Toyota Motor Sales USA will be lending the City a 2016 Toyota Mirai for a couple of weeks to test drive.

The car has an electric motor powered by hydrogen fuel cells, resulting in a 100-percent-pollution-free vehicle.

The fuel cells produce electricity from the high pressure hydrogen with only water as a byproduct. The 300 horsepower motor moves the car exceptionally quick, without any motor noise or exhaust.

Hydrogen is available locally at the Valero gas station on Harbor Boulevard to retail customers.

Several City departments will be given an opportunity to drive the vehicle for routine City business over the two weeks of the test.

The car will travel over 300 miles per fueling and may be leased by the public in the $400-500 a month range or purchased with State incentives for the mid $40,000’s.

Costa Mesa Mayor Steve Mensinger announced that Tesla Motors, an innovative automotive and energy storage company known for its high-end luxury electric cars, is the winner of the Mayor’s Award presented at the Tuesday April 5 City Council meeting.

Accepting the award on behalf of the company was Tesla Store Manager Peter Najera and Service Manager Joe Estrada.

“We are deeply honored and this is a wonderful and amazing thing that you have done for us,” Najera said. “We are thrilled to be here in Costa Mesa. It’s a perfect location.”

Costa Mesa is not only one of five Tesla sales locations in the county, but is also home to one of only two Tesla service centers in the county.

Tesla forgoes the typical dealership model that dominates the business, and instead sells cars directly to their customers through company owned stores or galleries, which are usually located in shopping malls.

For years, Tesla operated locally out of a 10,000-square-foot facility on Pullman Street in Costa Mesa, adjacent to the 55 freeway.  Nearly a year and a half ago they expanded their operation to also include a 27,000 square foot facility just down the street.

The new facility serves as a state of the art service center, complete with 26 service bays, two alignment bays, a detail center and car wash area in two buildings.

A typical day finds six service advisors and 20 service technicians servicing 30-35 vehicles per day, making the Costa Mesa location the number one Tesla Service center in terms of volume in the entire nation.

The City of Costa Mesa reached a landmark settlement agreement with Solid Landings Inc. that will result in the immediate closure of 15 of the company’s residential sober living homes and the closure of 18 more over the next two to three years at the latest.

“This is a major victory both for the residents of Costa Mesa and city officials who worked diligently on this issue for several years,” said Mayor Steve Mensinger. “We have invested considerable resources in legal, law enforcement and code enforcement efforts to ensure a balance between our residents who deserve neighborhood peace and tranquility and those who seek facilities to battle their addiction problems.”

The agreement with Solid Landings, the largest group home operator in the city of Costa Mesa, will effectively end years of both federal and state litigation between the company and the city and will keep intact the city’s two groundbreaking ordinances that place appropriate restrictions on group homes, limiting the number of occupants and the proximity between similar homes.

By entering into the agreement, Solid Landings will ultimately close 33 residential facilities and no legal fees will be paid by the city. Further, Solid Landings will relocate its counseling facilities to two locations in the city, one in a commercial area and the other in an industrial location.

The settlement discussions began approximately a month ago when the City Council directed Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Righeimer to negotiate on behalf of the city.

The negotiations between Righeimer and Solid Landings resulted in an agreement reached Tuesday April 5 when the council voted 3-0 to accept the terms of the settlement.

On Thursday March 24, staff and members of the City of Costa Mesa’s Military Affairs team hosted an Easter egg event for the children of the City’s Adopted Marine battalion, the 1/5 Marines at Camp Pendelton.

Members of the team stuffed over 2,000 Easter eggs for the event over a three-day period at City Hall.

The Costa Mesa Community came out in full support of the Marines with over 3,000 items being donated in the steam trailer located in the City Hall lobby.  Congrats to all.

Costa Mesa High School is opening the doors of real world music, history, and arts education in a once-in-a-lifetime trip for a select number of students.  To kick off their spring break, fourteen members of the school band will be traveling to New Orleans and immersing themselves in the local history and jazz culture for five days.

They’ll be joined by fourteen members of the Huntington Beach High School Band and several parents from both schools under the leadership of Mrs. Sandy Gilboe and Mr. Gregg Gilboe, directors of the bands at CMHS and HBHS, respectively.

New Orleans is widely renowned as the birthplace of Jazz music. The students will have the opportunity to experience several live performances, including a visit to Snug Harbor Bistro to hear Ellis Marsalis (patriarch of the famous Marsalis jazz family), a private concert by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Cajun music and culture at Mulates Restaurant.

Scheduled tours of the French Quarter, Oak Valley Plantation, Cajun Pride Swamp, and the Natchez Steamboat will provide the students a first-hand history lesson unlike any they have ever experienced.

On Tuesday, March 22 a total of 284 students from four various neighboring schools graced the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall with a common love of musical theater bringing them all to one stage.

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts presented Disney Musicals in Schools “Student Share Celebration” that featured students grades 3-6 all whom performed from selected musical numbers before a crowd of enthusiastic friends, family and teachers.

For 17 weeks’ students, teachers and professional teaching artists worked collaboratively during after school sessions, learning, rehearsing and performing scenes, songs and dance numbers from some of Disney’s beloved musicals.

The objective being to create a continual theater program in the participating schools.

The culmination of all their efforts resulted in presenting and performing a live 30-minute Disney KIDS Musical performance on each individual campus. Following their respective performances, the student’s grand finale was a performance at Segerstrom Center for the Arts as part of the Disney Musicals in “Schools Student Share Celebration.”

This provided an extraordinary opportunity for them to showcase all their great efforts and perform a signature song from their musical in front of students, family members, faculty and associates from Disney.

Disney Musicals in Schools is designed to create sustainable musical theater programs in public elementary schools. School teams are provided with the training and tools necessary to support student productions and empower them to continue this theater tradition in their school for years to come.

The Costa Mesa High School Foundation will hold its annual meeting on Friday, March 25 from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Fireside Lounge.

The annual meeting, which is open to the public, will include an introduction of the new Foundation Board of Directors, a CMHS Arts Academy update, artist showcase and special performances by the CMHS Madrigals and Music Department.

The Foundation was formed in 2003 to manage an endowment donated by CJ Segerstrom & Sons that funds enhanced educational opportunities at Costa Mesa Middle & High School. The Foundation has contributed more than $500,000 in teacher grants directly from the interest earned on the endowment.  In 2013, the Foundation began to fundraise for additional discretionary funding with the annual Gala and Home Tour.

The CMHS Board of Directors includes parents, alumni and teachers, as well as business and community leaders.  Click here for more information about the Costa Mesa High School Foundation, and click here to RSVP to the annual meeting.

The Costa Mesa Public Services Department will soon be initiating the construction phase of a much-needed school zone traffic calming project.

This project will target multiple locations throughout the City. The project will include replacement of all school zone warning flashers with solar powered devices and improved intelligent technology, which enables them to be activated when children are in school.

The project also includes installation of 20 radar speed feedback signs that will have built-in technology to collect speed and volume data that will allow city staff to implement future safety upgrades and enable better planning of focused enforcement in and around Costa Mesa schools.

Other improvements include installation of 220 pedestrian count down heads at various signalized intersections in the vicinity of Costa Mesa schools.

Award of a contract for this project by City Council is anticipated in April 2016. Installations would follow in Summer of 2016.

On Wednesday morning March 16, several hundred civic, business and elected leaders, dignitaries and war veterans celebrated the groundbreaking of the new Heroes Hall veteran exhibit that have a permanent home at the OC Fair & Event Center.

“This is dedicated to the honor and sacrifices to those who served our country,” said Michele Richards, the vice president of business development for the fair and event center.

Richards was one of a number of speakers who included board members Doug La Belle and Nick Beradino and Bolton Colburn, who runs the Exhibits and Education Department at the fair and event center.

The groundbreaking duties for what will be the county’s first museum dedicated to veterans fell to those who served in wars from Afghanistan to World War II.

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Those veterans included one of the last remaining  Tuskegee Airmen, Robert Friend, Korean War vet Robert Dugan, Vietnam vet Frank Orzio, Desert Storm vet Douglas Wooley and Claudia Acosta of the U.S. Army.

The OC Fair & Event Center was once part of the Santa Ana Army Air base, a 1,300-plus acre training facility that was active during World War II. That base is now home to the fairgrounds, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa High School, Davis Elementary and TeWinkle Park.

“As the former home of the Santa Ana Army Air Base, the OC Fair & Event Center is a natural fit for the Heroes Hall Exhibit. We are honored to host this historic exhibit and look forward to seeing it become a reality in the coming months,” the fair’s CEO Kathy Kramer said in a statement.

The exhibit is expected to encompass more than 12,000 square feet with indoor/outdoor exhibit space. The former “Memorial Gardens” building will be relocated and reconstructed as part of the overall exhibit, which will also include memorabilia and tributes to California veterans.

Crews are expected to break ground in March with an expected completion date of Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, 2016. The exhibit is expected to attract more than 1.5 million visitors each year.

In 2015, the OC Fair & Event Center Board voted in favor of a $2 million contribution to start the funding efforts for Heroes Hall.

The Board also approved the creation of the Heroes Hall Veterans Foundation to lead in fundraising for the ongoing maintenance and operation of Heroes Hall.

The city of Costa Mesa donated $25,000 toward the project, one of many local entities who have showed their support.

To learn more about how to donate and for periodic updates on the Heroes Hall exhibit click here.

Life-long Costa Mesa resident and Newport-Mesa educator and coach Dr. Kirk Bauermeister received the Mayor’s Award at the Tuesday March 15 City Council meeting.

In his 18 year career with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, Bauermeister is the only person to serve as principal at all four of Costa Mesa’s secondary schools, TeWinkle and Costa Mesa middle schools as well as Estancia and Costa Mesa high schools.

Prior to that, he was a coach and the athletic director of Costa Mesa High School.

“This was really an easy one to pick,” said Mayor Steve Mensinger, regarding his choice of Bauermeister for this award. “I’ve never met somebody who is more committed to what he does. He gives us all inspiration.”

Bauermeister, who was accompanied by his family, said from an early age he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and work in education.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by a city that has done so much for me,” he said.

With residents reporting a recent increase in the number of coyote sightings in Costa Mesa, we want to again share some tips on what to do to if a resident has a coyote encounter and how to make your home or backyard less inviting to these predators.

The public should keep in mind that historically, coyote attacks upon humans are extremely rare. In a study presented at the 2004 North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, there were only 56 reported coyote-versus-human attacks resulting in injuries in Southern California in the previous 25 years.

This figure is extremely small when compared to an average 4.5 million people who are bitten by dogs nationally each year. While not normally a danger to humans, coyotes will display defensive behaviors if threatened or cornered. Therefore, it is important to leave a comfortable distance between you and a coyote.

Small pets can easily become coyote prey. Cats and small dogs should not be allowed outside alone, even in a fenced yard. It is highly recommended that small pets always be accompanied by their owner. Though coyotes generally hunt between sunset and sunrise, they can be observed at all hours of the day and will not pass up the opportunity for an easy meal. A dog or cat left in a backyard can be taken in a matter of moments.

Many steps can be taken to protect you and your property from nuisance animals like coyotes and other wildlife:

• Fence off animal enclosures (fully enclose if possible).
• Keep cats and small dogs indoors or in the close presence of an adult.
• Feed pets indoors.
• Store trash in covered heavy-duty containers.
• Keep yards free from potential shelter such as thick brush and weeds.
• Enclose the bottoms of porches and decks.
• Eliminate potential food and water sources, such as fallen fruit and standing water.
• Eradication and/or relocation of the urban coyote is not effective. These programs actually provide a vacuum in nature, causing these animals to have even larger litters, ultimately increasing the coyote population.
• Practicing these measures will help minimize the nuisances and losses caused by urban coyotes.
• If you locate an injured or potentially dangerous coyote in Costa Mesa, call CMPD Dispatch at 714-754-5252, or for general inquiries leave a message with Costa Mesa Animal Control Services at 714-754-5311.

For even more information, we encourage residents to watch the following Public Service Announcement regarding coyotes and ways to discourage them.

With the arrival of the Asian tiger mosquito or Aedes species in the county, the Orange County Vector Control District has issued an alert and is urging residents to protect themselves and their families from mosquito bites. Aside from being itchy and annoying, the bite of an infected female tiger mosquito can spread dengue, chikungunya, or Zika virus.

The district advises residents to use mosquito repellent and mosquito-proof homes by dumping standing water both inside and outside, discarding water-holding containers not being used, and making sure all window and door screens are in good repair.

Click here for more information, including an interactive map to locate infested areas. Also, literature about this health advisory is available at City Hall.